misty Pearl Harbour

the view from the [fishtank] window this morning 

feeding time, what a great job! and she was clearly enjoying herself too.

On this misty Monday morning, after a relaxed brekki at the cafe downstairs, where MGM confused the waitress by asking for a scone instead of a scOHne and she confused him by producing a blueberry rock cake and saying "your scOHne sir" (he had the good sense to take & eat it avoiding further confusion), we headed out to Pearl Harbour.

It's a pretty precinct with interesting American-centric (as you'd expect) museums. That line you can see is the the reserve line for the USS Arizona memorial so we opted out of that one, choosing instead to take the shuttle bus to the USS Missouri. 

Officially commissioned in 1944 and serving in WWII, the Korean conflict and the Gulf war this was the battle ship upon which Japan signed the papers that would end WWII. I am my engineer grandfather's girl at heart, I just love big machinery &, oh my goodness, this did not disappoint.

You'll be pleased to know I wore my best wire antenna headdress in honour of the occasion 

(honestly you just can't get good tourist-passer-by photography these day *eye roll) 

my fave view through a window today is from the captain's chair

The self-guided tour ranged all over the ship. It was so interesting to try an imagine what it would be like working, living with 2,000 others on this floating city whilst at war, when this was cutting edge tech, 80 odd years ago.

The below deck areas were as interesting to me as the massive ordinance and machinery above. How different some people's lives are. We really have no idea until we see something like this.

Not much sun today, but the misty rain kept us cool and probably kept the crowds down a bit.

On the way back to the girls, who didn't join us on the ship tour, we passed the aviation museum. This view from the bus window shows a tower originally being built, pre 1941, as a water tower. After the planes and ships were destroyed so efficiently by the Japanese in 1941 it was repurposed as an aviation watch tower.

We found Wendy and Erin where we left them and then reclaimed handbags, which we had to surrender (at cost mind you) before entering the complex. eeeeek I was not emotionally ready to separated from my handbag, (deep breaths, run back to get my glasses, deep breaths, panic a little about the other things I'd forgotten I could not do with out - this did not come up in my research, clearly I did not read the fine print. Okay I'm  calm now) before going to the next scariest experience of the day - the American shopping mall.

I mean this Ala Moana Centre is small city-sized

Some shopped, some napped, some blogged the afternoon away ... choice: the joy of holiday days.